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Canadian Forestry Journal, February, 1919 



THE TREE-SOLDIERS OF FRANCE 



By Major Barringlon Moore, Second in Coniniand 

 v. S. Forestry Corps. 



Drastic Drain of Military Needs Amply y 

 Provided for by French National Foresight. 



My subject Is the part played by the French 

 forests In the war, and the work of the Canadian 

 Forestry Corps and American Forestry Section 

 In utilizing these forests. I shall speak only of 

 the broader aspects of these operations. 



After the first two years of the war, the ton- 

 nage shortage made it impossible to ship wood 

 to France, except aeroplane stock and the like, 

 for wood is very bulky and the necessary 

 shipping would have been enormous, more than 

 could possibly have been spared with safety. 

 Yet wood is a military necessity. 



The ports of France were not built with a 

 view to the landing of large armies, and were 

 wholly inadequate ; yet the speeedy debarkation 

 of the troops, with their munitions and supplies 

 had to be assured at all cost. The submarines 

 forced the ships to come in convoys of ten or 

 fifteen at once, requiring several times the dock- 

 ing space the same number of ships would have 

 needed singly. Wharves, miles of wharves, were 

 of immediate necessity. For this we must have 

 piling and wharf timbers. 



But, once the troops and supplies were landed 

 our difficulties did not end. It was necessary to 

 find shelter for them. Sacks of flour cannot be 

 left out in the rain. Warehouses became neces- 

 sary, warehouses of gigantic size and capacity. 

 Railroads had to be laid in the warehouses, one 

 depot alone requiring 85 miles. Lumber for 

 these warehouses had to be furnished immedi- 

 ately. 



Wherever possible we billeted our troops in 

 houses to save barracks. But the crowded con- 

 dition of the country, owing to the refugees from 

 Belgium and the invaded parts of France, made 

 this inadequate. Our men were dying of 

 pneumonia. We simply had to have barracks. 

 Every suitable building that could be found any- 

 where in France was turned into a hospital, but 

 yet there were not enough. We required large 

 quantities of lumber for hospitals. 



After the army was landed, its supplies cared 

 for, and the men were in billets or barracks in 

 all of which wood plays the leading role the 

 army must be moved forward. As a matter of 

 fact, it had to be moved forward even before the 

 preparations for landing were completed. 

 Everything was done under the utmost teniion, 

 and still not rapidly enough. 



Ties Before Guns. 

 The transportation of men and guns, with 

 munitions and supplies, required the construction 

 of new railroad lines and the double tracking of 

 others. Ties became more important than guns, 

 because without the railroads the guns could not 

 be brought to the front. When the Germans 

 broke through in March and got within close 

 range of Amiens, they paralyzed the main artery 

 between the French and British armies. An- 

 other railroad had to be built, and built quickly. 

 Fortunately the Canadians had ties ready cut 

 for an emergency. 



In order to permit one organization to com- 

 municate quickly with another, it was necessary 

 to construct telephone and telegraph lines. This 

 called for thousands and thousands of poles. 



Cooking the food and keeping the men warm 

 meant tons and tons of fuelwood. 



At the front, trenches and other defensive 

 works called for large numbers of props, 

 barbed wire pickets, and other round material. 



To bring up the artillery quickly over the 

 shell-torn ground it was necessary to build hasty 

 roads with five inch plank. The amount of 

 lumber consumed as road plank was enormous. 



Add to the foregoing an insistent demand for 

 lumber to make packing cases and for countless 

 smaller uses, and you will have some slight con- 

 ception of wood as a military necessity. 

 Forestry Troops Urgent. 

 We had not been in France long before this 

 necessity for lumber faced us in terrible earnest- 

 ness. Our army engineers had always found at 

 hand whatever materials they needed, and they 

 drew up elaborate plans accordingly. The Chief 



